Using GIS to investigate mortuary practice and identity at the historic Spring Street Presbyterian Church, Manhattan

Summary

This paper focuses on the use of a geographical information system (GIS) as a tool to identify the distribution and association of mortuary artifacts and skeletal remains within the Spring Street Presbyterian Church burial vaults (ca.1820–1846). The GIS study presented here is one component of a microhistorical approach to exploring a 19th century neighborhood in New York City’s 8th Ward during a period of rapidly changing urban, social, and economic landscapes. Viewing the city through the lens of this radical abolitionist church congregation provides an avenue of inquiry that considers these changing landscapes with regard to the social, religious, and mortuary ideologies espoused by the Spring Street Presbyterian Church. By spatially reconstructing the Spring Street burial vaults, this GIS assists in the identification of patterns associated with the demographics of the interred congregants, both in the distribution of the interments and artifacts within the vaults, as well as how those spatial relationships reflect identity and mortuary custom as practiced by the Spring Street congregation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage